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BlackBerry Cancels Friday's Earnings Call

Citing the letter of intent to be acquired for $9 a share signed Monday with a consortium led by its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial (NASDAQOTH: FRFHF) , BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) has opted to cancel its conference call and webcast following the 7 .a.m EST release of Q2 earnings this Friday, the company announced yesterday.

Complete second-quarter financial results will be released Friday at 7 a.m. BlackBerry said additional information regarding its Q2 will be released next week when it files a "Management Discussion and Analysis," along with consolidated financial statements.

BlackBerry announced preliminary Q2 earnings on Sept. 20, which included an inventory write-off of nearly $1 billion, an estimated $1.6 billion in revenues for the quarter, and sales of approximately 3.7 million smartphones.

On Monday, BlackBerry announced that Fairfax Financial, led by former BlackBerry board member Prem Watsa, had offered to take the company private in a deal valued at $4.7 billion.

Fairfax, BlackBerry's largest shareholder, with a 10% stake, is trying to attract other investors. BlackBerry shares on Wednesday lost 6%, closing a dollar below Fairfax's bid on fears the deal won't happen.

There is no breakup fee should Fairfax walk away, but Watsa told The Associated Press his firm is not in the business of making an offer and then walking away or redoing the deal.

Watsa said Fairfax won't be contributing more to the bid than the 10% it already owns.

"The 10% is like $500 million. It's a significant amount of money," he said. "We're going to bring equity partners and we think the company will be very well-capitalized."

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Tim has been writing professionally for several years after spending 18 years (Whew! Was it that long?)in both the retail and institutional side of the financial services industry. Tim resides in Portland, Oregon with his three children and the family dog.